Friday, June 01, 2007

Place of the day

Long ago in this container of Grich I had a regular post called "Country of the Day." That turned into country of the week, and then country of the whenever-I-feel-like-spending-the-time. I'm sorry I let this go, as I enjoyed the process. But at times it took a fair bit of my spare time and I never got around to continuing the process. That's not to say that I won't do it again, it's just not a regular thing.Well, for my own gratification, and yours to if you so choose, Ben Keene, the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the world (Oxford press), has a regular posting on the Oxford press blog called Ben's Place of the Week. It's usually a short bit about the place, and why he's singling it out, along with a link or two.This week's place is Castrillo de Murcia, Spain. And the reason he's singling it out is because they, like Pamplona, have an annual tradition. However their's involves baby jumping. You'll just have to go see that post to find out what I'm talking about.

I got this information from one of my current favorite blogs: Catholicgauze. I just can't imagine where he finds all this stuff. Along with that he's been following a series at the Oxford blog about Stalin's gulags.And then there's this other article from a geologist he reads. It's a great look into the top 5 disasters that could possibly kill millions of people in the United States, and the San Andreas ripping California apart is only number 5! The Pacific Northwest suffering tidal waves dozens of meters high along with sustained 5 minute long 8.0 earthquakes is only number 4, but that one concerns me the most, as I live up here. Fun read, but scary as all heck. And be prepared: it's long.

1 comment:

It is long, but I wanted to give one that had good historical record its voice as it has been lost to most of modern America. To the people of 1812 that must have seemed like a vision of the underworld visited upon them, and getting that across and applying it to our modern infrastructure is frightening.

Cascadia is such a lovely area of North America! Highly active, geologically and after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, you can now get a very, very good feel for what that part of the continent gets every few hundred years. SeaTac and Vancouver may get spared the worst of the wave forms, but complex shoreline leads to complex models and only the real thing will let us know for sure. I do plan on moving to the east side of the Cascades for its relatively dry climate, and I can live with volcanos... at least the more temperate ones of Cascadia which seem to give a few months of lead-time. Far away from the coast and with all that lovely terrain as a big shock absorber.

If you live near the coast in that region, just familiarize yourself with the things to pay attention to: unreinforced masonry buildings, bridges, and an easy route to higher terrain. No need to fear it, just understand it and with the adrenaline rush let your reflexes take over after the quake and *walk* directly to high ground. A bit faster than a stroll, to be sure, but elevation and distance inland are the keys 250' in elevation is necessary or about 2 miles from the shoreline and the first wave is rarely the biggest... outwalk that and keep on walking. Once or twice a day just stop and say: 'If there had been an earthquake and a big one for 5 minutes and I had survived it, am I safe from the tsunami that is coming in 15 minutes?' If the answer is 'no', you then identify the immediate, best way to get out of there. The folks on the coast of Japan knew to run away when the water went out in Indonesia. One can lead a perfectly normal life if the problems and hazards are recognized and accounted for. The tough decisions come the next day: survive to *make them*.